A Spirit World Adventure
by Splybox
Summary: Korra follows her Avatar intuition in her spirit vacation with Asami to discover an old friend
1. Chapter 1

"Asami, I swear it's just up ahead, maybe past this forest."

"What is Korra? What are you trying to show me?"

"I don't know, I just woke up and felt like I needed to head this way."

"What do you even mean?"

"I don't know, it's Avatar stuff, I don't tend to argue with my intuition."

"Fair enough, it did lead you to me all those years ago."

"Hey, you were the one who ran Mako over. If you hadn't, we would have never met."

Asami stifled a giggle at her memory of nearly taking out the famous probender with her moped while she ducked around branches of spirit wild that radiated more colors than she could name. This peaceful vacation was meant to be just that, a peaceful vacation with her best friend, who finally seemed to be returning the affection that she had been showing her, after they saved the world for what felt like the millionth time, but life with The Avatar is rarely peaceful. Asami was pleased that, at least, this adventure was one where life wasn't on the line.

"Alright, maybe it isn't _JUST_ over here. But maybe it is across this lake," Korra considered aloud as the two of them reached the shoreline of a considerably large body of water.

"You call this a lake? This is more like an ocean."

"Okay, maybe it is more of an ocean than a lake but it sure is pretty! It's almost the same shade of green as your eyes!"

"Makes me wonder if it's actually water, it certainly doesn't feel like it," Asami contemplated while she waded her fingers through the liquid.

"I can try bending it! If I can, it's water; if I can't, no clue."

Asami watched as Korra rhythmically moved her arms in familiar motions, to no avail. Moments later, however, the body of liquid seemed to grow larger, very rapidly, as if enraged.

"I don't think it liked that," Korra mused.

"Who are you calling it?" A large voice called out. "I'm no it!"

"I'm sorry; I didn't know you were a spirit. I thought you were just a large body of water or something."

"I'm one of the oldest spirits of this realm, how dare you try to bend me," the anger in their voice rising.

"Hey, I'm sorry I tried to bend you, it was a total accident. I'm just trying to get to the other side of you. I was following an Avatar intuition and I thought"

"You thought that because you're The Avatar that you can go wherever you want," the spirit rebutted angrily.

"We really are sorry," Asami cut in trying to sound as heartfelt as possible, "We're just trying to get to wherever Raava's spirit is guiding us. We can go on our way if you help us navigate around you; totally out of your, erm, hair."

"If it means getting rid of you for good, I'll help you get to my other side," the spirit ridiculed while a giant hand appeared next to them from the liquid, "Just hold on."

Korra and Asami straddled onto the giant hand and held on while they soared across the sky. The thought of being with Korra kept Asami feeling safe, at least secure in knowing that if anything bad happens she could probably get them to the ground in one piece, being with The Avatar was probably the safest you could feel in the spirit world. Even though she doesn't always know what's going to happen around the next bend, she still has the ability to get them to safety. Well relative safety. That seems a perfect word to describe this place, relative; you are relatively safe at all times. At least that's what Korra told her, as long as you keep a calm mind, everything will be safe and kind; relatively.

The spirit dropped them off hastily and returned to it's peace.

"Alright, back to our journey" Korra enthused as if she wasn't just threatened by an ancient spirit.

"How are you not totally freaked out by that? They said that they were one of the oldest spirit in the realm and they were huge!"

Korra laughed.

"And now, you're laughing about it."

"Every spirit in here says they are the oldest, Asami. They all act like that! It stopped scaring me after destroying the literal entity of darkness, which was the actual oldest spirit."

"I guess that would quell any fear of spirits."

* * *

Approaching a clearing in the forest brought them to a beautiful sight of a vast mountain range, draped in purple and orange light from the divine sun that had made its way to the peak of the sky. Where the sun came from and where it went to was a complete mystery as the land seemed endless, but it surely went somewhere as it played an endless game of chase with a moon that was equally magnificent.

"Why don't we stop for a nice picnic lunch?" Korra suggested with a crooked smile across her face.

"Sounds perfect," Asami replied with a sly grin.

Asami prepared the checkered blanket they would be sitting on while Korra pulled the sandwiches out of her backpack that she had made before they left, almost a week ago. They were starting to run low on food but they had enough food to last them another couple of days.

"This vacation has been perfect," Asami mused. "Just what I needed after all that stress of saving the city and making those hummingbird suits."

"I'm glad to hear that, it's exactly why I suggested a vacation. "

"Is that the only reason?" Asami pondered aloud.

"What do you mean?" Korra asked worriedly.

"I mean, why just the two of us? The whole gang worked really hard with you to protect the city, why go on a vacation with just me?" Asami asked shifting her weight around anxiously.

"I don't know, maybe it's because you're my best friend, maybe because I think you needed an escape from the city because of your Dad's death, maybe because I like you a lot and I enjoy spending time with you." Korra answered with an increasingly red face.

"Oh Korra," Asami bawled while embracing the other girl, "that's all I needed to hear."

Korra's face turned even more red as she embraced the taller girl back.

"So do you like like me a lot too?" Korra questioned back.

"Of course I do, I'm kind of embarrassed to say that I've kind of had a crush on you since we met."

"Really? Then I'm really sorry for how I felt about you when we first met. I just saw you as competition for Mako's attention and was super insecure because you were super pretty; still super pretty, in fact."

"Korra, I'm glad that first impressions don't always last and that all that Mako nonsense was put behind us. Obviously he was kind of a jerk to both of us. And besides, I thought it was pretty obvious from all those late night talks when we were traveling the Earth Kingdom looking for airbenders. You talking about all your fears of being seen as a failure and helping me come to terms with the future of my company; in fact it was you that motivated me to renovate the city and build the park in your honor."

"So it was you that commissioned that statue of me?"

"So you did get to see it before it got destroyed?"

"Yeah, it was all over the newspapers, kind of embarrassing to have my parents burst into my room getting all excited about a park in my honor when I could barely walk still."

"Oh no, I'm so sorry, I never thought you'd see it before you got back to Republic City."

"Don't be sorry, I'm just glad it was you and not Varrick. But then again he probably would have butchered it and made me out to be something I'm not."

"No he was already working with Kuvira at the time. And I wouldn't have let him anywhere near that project anyway. Spirits, rebuilding the city is going to be a task."

"Hey don't worry about that right now, that's the future and this is now. Now let's finish our lunch and go on our way to finding whatever the hell is calling for me."

* * *

Korra led Asami through an increasingly thick and craggy wooded area, a thin passage in a thick wall of tree trunk the only giveaway that they could get through. With thoughts of Korra on Asami's mind, she narrowly avoided tripping on the abundant roots. She wondered if their conversation was what she thought it was; were they "official," now? Could she say she was dating the Avatar? What would Korra's parents think? What would Mako and Bolin think? What would the city think and what would the world think? All these questions scared Asami but she didn't care, she could deal with whatever PR mess ensued, she was sure of it.

"Awfully quiet back there Asami, anything on your mind?"

"Just work stuff," she bluffed, not wanting to worry Korra.

"STOP THINKING ABOUT WORK ASAMI, it's a vacation for crying out loud and we're on a grand quest."

"Is that what we're calling this? This silly little adventure."

"This is no little adventure, the distance that we've crossed these past couple of hours."

"How long has it been exactly?"

"No clue! The spirit world is weird and time is even weirder here."

"So are we going to come out of the portal at the end of this and have been gone for barely a day? Or like 50 years?"

"Not that weird, more like you lose track of time. Spirits could you imagine if we came out and everyone was freaking out about us."

"I think everyone will be freaking out about us," Asami answered with a wink.

"Do you mean, are you talking about us being gone or?"

"Both."

"Nah it'll be fine!"

"I sure hope so."

The end of the path brought them to an ancient looking clearing with an air of austerity around it. Spirits scattered around the large glade, all seemingly congregated near each other. What was a dull roar of conversation turned into stunned silence.

Asami could see a sense of calm and familiarity wash over Korra. What was causing that? It's just a field of spirits. Asami was contemplating the area when she caught a glimpse of familiar looking yellow and orange robes. No, it couldn't be!

"Korra, what is this place?"

"I don't know Asami, but it feels like I almost belong here, I feel totally comfortable."

* * *

The two of them stood in the middle of the clearing, in awe at the enormity of the area until they were interrupted by a spirit that had snuck up behind them.

"Boo!"

Both Asami and Korra jumped, startled by a trickster of a ghost in yellow and orange robes.

"I knew it was you, I was worried I would never see you again Korra," the spirit exclaimed.

"What do you mean 'never see me again,' and how do you know my name?" Korra questioned while taking a moment to inspect the spirit. "Wait a minute, no it can't be, I thought you were gone forever."

"It's Aang's spirit, isn't it?" Asami questioned, pulling facts she remembered from studying the history of The Avatar. "This is amazing Korra, maybe you can reunite with your past lives somehow."

A slight frown crept across Korra's face.

"Unfortunately, I don't think that is possible Miss, I'm sorry I didn't catch your name."

"Right, sorry, introductions I guess," Korra interrupted. "Aang, this is Asami Sato, my girlfriend." The realization of what she just said sent a tingle down her spine and put a smile back on her lips.

"It's an honor to meet you Miss Sato, you're very lucky to have found the love of Korra, she is quite the young Avatar; at least from what I remember seeing through her eyes in the Avatar State before I lost my connection to her. A shame that it happened but I'm glad to see you are still full of life after whatever happened to you, the last thing I remember is fighting Vaatu back into the Tree of Time."

"Yeah, that was a rough fight. Raava was ripped from me by my uncle who had fused with Vaatu. I stopped him though and your granddaughter helped me refuse with Raava."

"Young Jinora really is amazing, I see a strong future for the budding air nation with her as a master. I watch over her whenever she enters the spirit world, I'm so proud of her for earning her tattoos. How did she finally earn them?"

"She helped save my life, she and the rest of the air nation."

"What do you mean by the rest, isn't that just my Tenzin and his family?"

"You don't know? After Harmonic Convergence, airbenders started popping up all over the world, something unlocked their bending abilities and gave them airbending."

"There… There are more airbenders than just my son and his family?" Aang questioned with a slight croak in his voice. "This is amazing!"

Aang's spirit seemed more like he was 12 years old again, a boyish excitement in his voice and a broad, crooked smile on his face.

"Yeah, there are how many now Asami? You made those rad glider suits."

"My last count before the Kuvira situation took over my business was something in the area of 1,000 coming through Air Temple Island over the past three years. The unrest in the Earth Kingdom brought a lot of them to Republic City to seek safety."

"What's this about glider suits?" Aang question with young curiosity in his voice.

"Oh, glider suits, I designed them because Tenzin was complaining about the new benders breaking so many of the glider staffs. I worked closely with Jinora to design them, she was very helpful in testing them. They have fabric wings that snap from the chest to the cufflinks, I modeled them off of flying squirrels in my backyard."

"I'm glad that Bumi got back in shape because he would have looked ridiculous in the suit with the stomach that he had." Korra commented with a boisterous laugh.

"Those sound amazing, Teo's father would be punching himself for not thinking of those. And did you say Bumi was an airbender too? I'm so proud of him, I fear I was hard on Kya and Bumi for not being airbenders and neglected them when Tenzin showed airbending, but I really am proud of all my children. They were the sweetest kids, always concerned with helping others who were in need."

"Well, you and Katara proved to be great parents. Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin always treated me like family and I felt so sorry that I lost my connection to you. I felt like I was the only thing they had left of you."

"Korra, don't be hard on yourself. It's not your fault."

"I can't express how appreciative I am that you helped the Air Nation get it's wings back, Miss Sato." Aang expressed with sincere happiness.

"I did what I could to help the world when Korra couldn't."

"Why couldn't she?"

"I was hurt, really badly, by the same people who kidnapped me as a child. They poisoned me and tried to end the Avatar cycle. Katara helped me endlessly with my recovery and, funnily enough, so did Toph. Katara was so kind and considerate while Toph was brash and always seemed uncaring."

"Toph always gave off that aura, she really does care though, deep in her heart. All those years as chief of police really added to that hardened exterior."

"What's really funny is Toph's granddaughter, Opal, was one of the airbenders we found throughout the Earth Kingdom. She is a total opposite to Toph, so sweet and affectionate; she certainly can channel that Beifong temper though."

"Yeah, Bolin better watch out." Asami added with a laugh.

"It must be karma for calling me twinkle toes for all those years," Aang commented with a fondness in his voice, "I really didn't mind the nickname, Sokka always told me it wasn't manly but I didn't care, Toph had interesting ways to show affection. Always punching everyone's shoulder. We once tried to throw a surprise party for her when she got the police force up and running, Sokka and I came up with the idea forgetting that she could sense everyone in the room, our arms were sore for weeks. She didn't let us live that down."

"Not getting to know Sokka really saddens me, I only met Suki a couple of times when I was a little older. I guess I'll be forever grateful that he fought so hard to get me back from Zaheer that first time they kidnapped me. The stories my father told me from that night are really shocking but it's no wonder that Suki became a recluse on Kyoshi Island after what happened."

"Their relationship was very close, they were a tight nit team, nearly from the day they met. It was an honor to officiate their wedding." Aang spoke with a sadness in his voice, "He treated me like I was a part of the family, like I was his younger brother. And seeing him with Suki, he had such a glow of love in his eyes." He switched his attention between Korra and Asami, "Much in the same way I see you two right now. Young love is a truly beautiful treasure."

Asami and Korra shared a glance, nervousness in their eyes. They were definitely best friends before Korra went away for three years and that feeling, that connection, was still there when she came back; a stronger feeling was shared between them. A feeling that Korra thought was just the trust and admiration she felt before, like when they were stuck in the Si Wong Desert, but it felt different, she felt different.

Asami on the other hand, was completely aware of her feelings for Korra, she had a crush on Korra from the day they met, and realized just how much she cared about her on that fateful day when she saw her splayed out in her father's arms, beaten and broken, hoping beyond hope that she would make it out alive. Those three years were torturous; only hearing from Korra once despite writing to her hundreds of times, she understood why that was once she read that letter, however. The Korra that wrote that letter was no where near the Korra that she remembered, the one who saved the world time and time again. She was scared and vulnerable, all of the walls she kept up were gone and it worried Asami and it kept her up for a week straight. The only person she confided the letter's content to was Tenzin, purely because of how much it scared her.

Aang, feeling the tension between the two girls, interrupted the moment with a question, "Aren't you wondering what this place is?"

"Yeah, where are we?" Korra asked, hoping to relieve the tension between her and Asami.

"This is where the spirits of The Avatar come to live after they have served their life in the material world." Aang answered enthusiastically. "The inner spirit of The Avatar splits off from the spirit of Raava when they die to come here, or the spirit world at least, with a bit of Raava still attached. Since The Avatar is usually very spiritual, it makes it easy to split from the body at death to come to the spirit word."

"Like Iroh!" Korra voiced excitedly.

"Yes, like Iroh did," Aang answered. "He chose to leave the material world on his death but The Avatar doesn't have such a similar choice. On their death their inner spirit leaves their body, with a piece of Raava's spirit still inside, to aid the future Avatar with their wisdom."

"So can Korra reconnect with her past lives?" Asami asked excitedly.

"If I wanted to do such a thing," Korra interjected, "Would I be able to?"

"I fear you would not be able to," Aang answered, "Because a different Raava resides in you, a reborn Raava, borne from the light of the spirit world. Your re-connection with Raava is an anomaly of Harmonic Convergence and any attempt at reconnecting with your past lives would be dangerous to your spiritual health. But that doesn't mean you can't continue guiding future Avatars Korra, you've achieved so much in your lifetime, and the world has changed so greatly, that I would be of no use in offering help to future Avatars."

"Thank you Aang, that means so much to me." Korra answered with a swelling pride in her chest. "I will be sure to tell Katara and the rest of your family where to find you though."

"That would mean the world to me Korra, I would love to see my sweetie once again."

"Come on Korra we should get going, it's starting to get dark. It was an honor to meet you Avatar Aang."

They both bowed before Aang and gave him a tight hug as they exited the clearing.

* * *

The two of them made camp outside the entrance to the thick forest and settled down to a roasted turkey duck dinner, courtesy of Korra's bending, and reveled about their discovery. A feeling of newly found, or freshly reignited, affection spread between them as they ate. The silence between conversation was filled with little nudges shared between them and eye contact that gave new meaning to contact. Little laughs were shared as one would miss their mouth to bite down on their food. Korra finished her meal well before Asami but, still being hungry, stole little bits and pieces from Asami's plate.

They enjoyed a new level of closeness while staring into the fire that Korra had made of the loose branches Asami had collected along the path from the Avatar's Clearing. They had been stumbling around each other the whole vacation but, with their emotions for each other now out in the open, they shared bodily contact at every opportunity. With Asami asleep on her lap, Korra sighed contentedly and stared deep into the fire, as if it contained the detail of her destiny.

She wondered about her future, what it would bare for the two of them together, and what would come of the rest of her friends. Of course Bolin and Opal will end up getting married, they were perfect for each other from the first day they met and Korra saw it coming, and they handled the bumps in the road through the past couple of months; she even overheard Opal talking about her own wedding ideas at Varrick and Zhu Li's reception. But she wondered where Mako's future lay. Surely he wouldn't end up like Lin, married to his job and working all the time. No, he had so much love to give and surely will find someone. Him and Wu were certainly getting along well at the wedding, spoke a voice at the back of her head. No, that's silly, that would never happen. Just like her and Asami would never happen the voice retorted. Wu definitely was checking out Mako a lot during the wedding but Mako didn't seem that interested in Wu, mostly just getting along with him because he was glad to be getting rid of him. She was sure someone would come along to spark the interest of Mako, he deserved someone to love forever.

Asami stirred and looked up at Korra, "what are you thinking about?"

"The future," Korra answered resolutely, "and us."

"And what do you think?"

"It's going to be great." She responded with genuine happiness in her voice. "Come on, let's get in the tent. These spirit flies are getting annoying."

Korra and Asami zipped their sleeping bags together and laid side by side, no more separation and no more barriers. They were finally together.

Korra fell asleep first. Asami only fell asleep after taking in the beauty of her girlfriend for a good minute, taking time appreciate her toned muscles and hardened abs. Her physique always a source of amazement to the older girl. She nervously laid her head on Korra's chest and almost jumped when Korra wrapped her arm around her. A smile crept across Asami's face. She had never felt more safe and secure in her life.

The two of them slept while spirits danced in the purple sky above.

* * *

Korra woke with a startle to an elbow to her face and only calmed down after realizing it was Asami's elbow. The two of them had become entangled overnight and while it was amusing at first, it was starting to become more and more uncomfortable.

"Why did we think this was a good idea?" Korra questioned, with a crick in her side stuttering her speech.

"It seems like a fun idea last night, but thinking it through, sleeping together like that in a confined space of a sleeping bag; not that smart."

"It was nice to sleep with you, err sleep beside you I mean."

"Yeah, it was." Asami answered with a grin on her face. She felt like saying she had been waiting three years for it to happen but didn't want to make Korra feel bad for taking her time to recover. "We should probably get heading back home, it's been a great week but I can't help but feel a little guilty if we stayed any longer. Though getting back is probably going take another day, at the least."

"Not really," Korra answered with a mischievous smile, "Here take my arm and hold on to it tight. Don't let go no matter what."

Asami wrapped her arm around Korra's arm tightly as they warped across the spirit world at, what felt like, light speed. Landing in front of the portal that they had emerged from a week ago.

"How did we just do that?" Asami asked in amazement.

"I can basically fast travel around the spirit world, I need to know where to go and really focus on it, benefit of being an all powerful spirit."

"Pretty handy. So getting to the South Pole would take no time at all then?"

"I could get there in the blink of an eye, why the South Pole?"

"Oh, no reason, just wondering."

"If you're worrying about us and my parents, don't. I might have already said something about you to them when I wanted to go back to Republic City."

"Oh yeah? What caused that?"

"Them wondering who I finally sent a letter to. They were really worried about me but when I finally returned a letter to one of my friends, they weren't nearly concerned about me."

"I bet you disappearing for six months didn't help that."

"Yeah, that didn't help matters. But that day got a lot better after lunch with you."

"Stop flirting with me."

"Never."

Their conversation was interrupted as another figure came through the spirit portal.

"Lord Zuko, what are you doing here?" Korra questioned with genuine curiosity.

"Oh, Avatar Korra and Miss Sato, what a pleasure to run into the both of you. I was in Republic City with my daughter and figured I should visit the new Spirit Portal."

Have you ever been in the spirit world, Lord Zuko?" Asami asked.

"As a matter of fact, I have not. I've become very spiritual in my old age but I've never had the time to meditate properly to enter the spirit world." His eyes wandered the scenery while answering, his expression growing with wonderment with each new sight. "I never imagined it would be this beautiful, however."

"I had the same thoughts," Asami chimed, "Korra showed me as much of the spirit world as we could get to, there are some REALLY creepy parts however."

"I can imagine, anything this fragrant with color surely has some scary parts."

"Zuko," Korra interrupted. "I know someone who would love to see you again, here take my arm."

Both Asami and Zuko latch onto Korra as she launches through the world, vibrant colors flying all around them, their journey ends at a small shack built in a green field with tables scattered around the front.

A stout, short man exits the shack as they arrive.

"Uncle? Is that really you?" Zuko asks in amazement.

"My nephew! It's been so long since I've seen you last." Iroh answers while tackling the former firelord.

"This is so sweet of you to do Korra," Asami comments playfully.

"Hey, it's what I do!"

The four of them gather around a table while Zuko and Iroh reminisced about the past, nostalgia fueling every conversation. Zuko seeming more and more like the young teenager that helped dismantle his father's tyranny with the original Team Avatar.

Korra was starting to miss the rest of her team, she didn't get much time with everyone once she came back from her reclusion. And after this vacation, she hoped she could get some quality time with everyone. They would most likely be busy trying to get the city in working order and her and Asami would probably help out once they returned, extending the city would require a lot of earthbending and who better to help but The Avatar? Plus it would be fun to flex her muscles a bit, and not having to fight someone in the process.

Zuko interrupted her thoughts with questioning if Republic City would need help rebuilding.

"I suppose it might," Asami answered for Korra. "The city sunk a lot of money into rebuilding infrastructure around the spirit wilds. The renovations were supposed to pay off from the increased tourists but I don't think many people will want to visit after what happened. Why do you ask?"

"Well Izumi came to discuss the restructuring of the Earth Kingdom with Raiko and Prince Wu and I asked her to discuss the idea of a partnership of sorts to fix the city when I saw how torn up everything was. I figure running the idea across The Avatar would be a good idea, and getting an opinion from the world's leading industrialist is an extra treat."

"What kind of partnership?" Korra asked.

"I thought it would be a great idea to update our means of transportation between the nations. I'm fascinated by the high speed train running around the Earth Kingdom. It used to be the Fire Nation at the forefront of advancement but it seems like Miss Sato here is now at the top of that ladder."

"That's very flattering Lord Zuko, I suppose I could look into the logistics of running a train to the Fire Nation and plan a meeting with Raiko and your daughter. I imagine that running a line across the major cities in the Fire Nation would be simple enough because of the proximity."

"Asami"

"Then again my building was totally destroyed in the process of the invasion."

"Asami." Korra continued.

"I did manage to get all of my blueprints safely to my house before the evacuation though"

"Asami, stop working! It's still our vacation, technically."

"I'm so sorry, I never meant to impose, I had heard from Tenzin that you two were in the Spirit World but I never imagined I would run into you like this."

"Don't worry about it, I just don't want Asami overworking herself when I promised her a relaxing vacation."

"You don't need to tell me to stop working, I know I can get carried away on tangents but you don't need to yell at me about it."

"You're right, I'm sorry. I should have reminded you to write the thoughts down in your notebook. I didn't mean to be a jerk."

Zuko stared between Korra and Asami, "Wow, you two sounded just like Mai and I just then."

"So we already sound like an old married couple? Oh dear!" Korra exclaimed, nudging Asami playfully, "Maybe we are progressing a little fast."

"Korra, we've only been officially a couple for two days, don't worry." Asami responds by pushing Korra's shoulder causing the Avatar to dramatically fall over and call out in mock pain. "Oh no, should I get the walker dear?" Asami jokingly asks causing Korra to cease her fake pain and let out a laugh.

"I think you might have to, my hip is acting up again." Korra jokes, causing Asami to join her on the ground.

"I'll have you know not every old person has problems with their hips," Zuko states defensively.

"Yeah, my back used to kill me all the time." Iroh comments with a laugh.

"You would always say that when I was heading to work with Aang on issues with Republic City, you just wanted to play pretend Fire Lord for the day."

"That may be true too, I can't remember."

"Well we should probably get going," Korra states with her composure back together, "Zuko, would you care to join us?"

"I suppose I should get back to Izumi, she's probably waiting for me to get back. I told her we'd go out to dinner together."

"So the city is somewhat in function order?" Asami asks.

"Yes it is, it's mostly the smaller places that are back up and running."

* * *

Now outside the portal, they both bow to Zuko and say their goodbyes and head off back to Air Temple Island. Hand in hand just like they entered a week ago, ready to take on the world together.

As soon as they made it back on Air Temple Island they were immediately accosted by Bolin. Curious of their disappearance during the wedding.

"So where did you two go?" He asks, totally oblivious to their hand holding and how intimately close they were standing.

"To the Spirit World, didn't Tenzin tell you?" Korra responds, hoping to get this over with as soon as possible.

"Yeah, but he didn't say why, and then I asked where Asami was. And he said she was with her. And then I got confused."

"Confused about what?" Asami asks.

"Well, why did you two go to the spirit world alone and not with the rest of team Avatar. So I asked Opal and she looked at me like I had two heads and just kind of laughed at me. So then I got really confused, so I thought I'd ask you two when you got back."

"Well Bolin," Korra says calmly, "I wanted some alone time with Asami to figure out my feelings. For her."

"What do you mean feelings?" Bolin asks completely dumbfounded by Korra's wording.

"Bolin, Korra and I like each other, a lot."

"Yeah, like you're best friends."

"No, like you like Opal." Korra responds nervously.

"Oh, oh, OOOOOHHHH!"

"There it is," Asami replies sarcastically.

"Oh I'm so happy for you two, this is awesome!"

"Oh Bolin, you're great. Can you go tell Tenzin that we're back, we really need a nap after sleeping on the ground for a week." Korra pleads, trying to get him off their back.

"Oh sure, no problem." He replies with a wink and a nod.

"Not like that, oh nevermind, come on Asami, I can't believe it's this early in the morning."

"You were the one that said that time was weird in the spirit world."

"Yeah, but I didn't think it was THAT weird."


	2. Chapter 2

It was noon when the two of them were assaulted by the wet nose of a large polarbear dog. They returned from the spirit world at something like 7 in the morning, too tired to look at the clock when their heads finally hit the pillow. They had been sleeping so deeply that they missed the opening of the door that had let Naga in.

Though Korra could hear a slight giggle outside their door after her exasperated yelp, the result of Naga jumping on the bed nearly pushed Asami off the mattress. The source of the giggle was surely Opal, she recognized it clearly.

"Damn it Opal!" Korra yelled; a sarcastic tone to her voice.

Opal, ever the prankster due to Bolin; peeked her head into Korra's room.

"Huh, what did I do?"

"Well, you let Naga into my room. Probably because you knew she missed me a lot and would clamber onto my bed, and totally startle me awake; while also nearly knocking Asami off the bed."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you two lovebirds sleep." She answered with a hint of snark in her voice and a grin on her face.

Both Korra and Asami stared Opal down, hoping that it was only Bolin and Opal that knew.

"Don't worry, I told Bolin to keep in between us. I'm sure you two would rather let people know on your own. How was your vacation?"

"It was great, the spirit world was beautiful, and we got to just relax and not worry about anything." Asami answered.

"I'm glad you two had a nice vacation but I'm glad your back, Raiko was starting to actually have to act as a leader of the nation for once and I don't think he liked it much."

"Great, I'm going to have to deal with that?" Korra asked, hoping that she could enjoy a few weeks of peace and quiet until she had to deal with rebuilding the city or dealing with the Earth Kingdom. "What exactly was he struggling with?"

"Well Wu announced his plan to step down as King and his plan to unite the states of the Earth Kingdom through a democratic system, which caused a bit of unrest. Nothing we couldn't handle, but he's been trying to deal with some of the states close to the United Republic wanting to join us instead. Wu said it didn't really matter to him, that he just wanted all the states happy, but Raiko apparently is trying to force really strict terms to the states joining the nation. It's been a long week."

"Thanks for the wake up anyway Opal, and can you thank Bolin for watching Naga when you see him?"

"Sure, I need to get back to training. But I'll see you both at dinner tonight?"

"Yeah," Asami answered.

"Then I'll leave you two alone." She said with a wink; closing the door behind her.

"Bolin and Opal really are perfect for each other, aren't they?" Asami asked. "I'd love to have a relationship like theirs."

"Well I'm sure that is a possibility," Korra answered in a happy tone. "Come on, let's get dressed and get some food. I'm starving."

Asami couldn't help but steal glances at Korra as they changed into their day clothes, taking in her toned body at every chance she had. She held a deep admiration for Korra's muscular body, she had always respected how muscular the master of the elements had to be and now it was hers to personally admire.

They both made their way to the dining room, hoping to catch the end of lunch, only to find Pema cleaning up.

"Oh hey you two, glad you're up. Would you mind getting those last couple of dishes from the dining room?"

"Sure, no problem" Korra answered grabbing a stack of wooden bowls from the table.

"Thanks. So did you two enjoy your vacation? I bet the Spirit World was extra beautiful for you two."

"As a matter of fact, it was." Asami responded. "We saw so many beautiful sights. We visited Won Shi Tong's library. We were chased out of the library. And then Korra stormed back into the library and demanded we be allowed to wander around because 'she's The Avatar.'"

"Well I'm glad you two enjoyed yourselves. What you two have is so special. I remember when Tenzin and I first started dating, oh he was so romantic."

"Pema?" Korra questioned. "How do you know we're dating? Did Bolin tell you? We told him to keep it quiet!"

"I may be getting older, Korra, but I still know young love when I see it. I saw it the way you two constantly spent as much time as possible around each other the past couple of months, the way you two barely had your eyes off each other at Varrick's wedding. How often Asami stayed here and slept in your bed while you were gone."

"You slept in my bed?" Korra asked with an affectionate laugh.

"Once or twice," Asami answered covering her face, "It was the only thing I could find that smelt like you." She whispered.

"That is too cute," Korra responded, fully embracing her girlfriend. "But Pema, you have to promise not to tell anyone."

"I promise. I don't think anyone else knows, at least nobody mentioned anything to me."

"I, well, we just want to be the ones to tell people. And more importantly, I don't want our private life plastered all over the media." Asami cautioned, well aware of the trauma of being questioned publicly. She was scrutinized the moment she took over Future Industries and it was definitely something she wanted to avoid for as long as possible after proving her worth as the CEO of the company.

"Well, we were just heading out. We're going to go get some lunch and then we were going to survey the wreckage of downtown. We'll be back for dinner though!"

"Alright, well stay safe you two."

"I'm The Avatar, I'm more than capable!" Korra responded. "Stop laughing at me Asami, I know that stupid giant owl kicked me out of the library, but it was on my terms! I still won that fight!"

"See I told you Narooks would be open!" Kora asserted, proud of the work ethic of her fellow water tribesman. "No stupid spirit ray attack will scare them into staying closed.

"Okay, you were right. Now let's get some food and get a table, my stomach is eating itself."

With their food ordered, they made their way to a table in the corner of the restaurant and settled down to wait for their order.

Just as they had made themselves comfortable in the booth, taking up each other's space as much as possible, a familiar firebender walked in and placed an order. Upon seeing his two best friends he made his way over to the booth.

"Oh hey you two, enjoy your honeymoon?" Mako inquired.

"Whatever do you mean, Mako?" Korra queried.

"You know, a vacation after a wedding, where the couple get to know each other more closely." Mako answered with a smug grin on his face. "Oh come on, don't look at me like that. I'm happy for you two! I kind of can't believe that I managed to date two women who would find love in each other, but I guess I'm happy to be of service."

"Mako, where did you get the idea that we're a couple?" Asami asked, slightly annoyed that two people had managed to know about her and Korra.

He sat down opposite them in the booth.

"Asami, I'm a detective. And you two looked seconds away from mapping each other's mouths with your tongues."

"You spend too much time with Lin, you know that?" Korra asked dryly.

"This past week I definitely have. I've been working with her to look for and clear out any squatters in the condemned buildings, we don't want anyone getting hurt when they get taken down."

"Is the homelessness problem really that bad? I didn't think that many homes were destroyed during the battle." Asami questioned, hoping that the issue could be easily fixed.

"We don't know. Lin seems to think that it might be people from the neighboring Earth Kingdom States looking for refuge but a large portion of people are saying that they're from the United Republic. They could be lying but we don't have any way of proving it."

"I really don't think that's a major issue right now. Keeping those people safe should be a concern." Korra insisted, hoping that the added strain of these refugees might not tip the nation into chaos. "I really shudder to think what would happen if all these people were more organized; especially if the Triads start building up."

"Well that's what we're trying to avoid. If we can stop the gangs from rebuilding in the first place, it makes my job a hell of a lot easier. Don't worry; we can deal with these refugees."

Mako got up to pick up his order. "I'll see you two later though; try to enjoy the rest of your day."

Not a moment later, a large order of noodles was delivered to their table.

Korra and Asami, stomachs rumbling from hunger, started scarfing down the order of noodles. It wasn't until Korra got to a stubborn piece of noodle that her eating slowed down. And it wasn't long before her slurping up the noodle turned into an impromptu kissing of Asami.

A momentary stun brought a flash of red to both their faces.

"So, was that our first kiss?" Korra asked, still taken aback by the surprise of the unexpected kiss.

"I suppose it was, yeah. But it was pretty weak for a first kiss." Asami stated as she turned her head back towards Korra.

"Then let's try that again." Korra stated as she tenderly grabbed Asami's jaw and brushed her lips gingerly against Asami's before she was overtaken by Asami kissing her deeply and seemingly sucking the air from her lungs; stopping only to hold her forehead against Korra's for a moment.

"Sorry, I've been holding onto that for a while." Asami stated quietly, glad that it was just the two of them in the restaurant, and that the chef was busy in the back.

Korra's heart was left pounding against her chest, trying to leap out to dance on the table. Kissing Asami was definitely something she was expecting to enjoy but that was something totally incomparable. Not that she had experienced many other kisses in her life.

"Come on, let's get going. What are you still doing in there?" Korra asked, shouting into Narook's; wondering what was taking Asami so long.

"I'll tell you in a second." Asami shouted back.

Asami was back outside with Korra after a few minutes with a grin forming across her face, a question forming in Korra's mind.

"What was that all about?"

"I was just setting something up, don't worry about it." Asami answered mildly.

"Setting what up?"

"A tab, so the homeless have somewhere to eat while we get everything back in running order." Asami relented. "I worked out a deal with the owner to charge Future Industries at the end of the month for the cost of food. So if anyone can't pay for their meal, I have them covered. We can have Mako tell the refugees where to go for an easy meal."

"You are way too charitable, it's no wonder we work so well together."

"I may have only spent a couple of days homeless but I heard enough from those we stayed with. I don't want anyone going hungry if I can help it."

"You are too sweet. Now come on, I want to go explore the ruins before they get taken down."

Korra led Asami from teetering building to teetering building, through the most precarious looking could-be traps, and airbent her way from rooftop to rooftop; taking in every sight of the destroyed city. Not much was left standing in the wake of the Spirit Portal's creation and anything that was still standing looked a hard push away from falling over.

Asami was glad that she had moved everything important from Future Industries Tower but was sad that she barely had enough time to own the new building to fully utilize the whole space. She still had 10 floors that were ready to accommodate new research and development engineers and fascinating new machinery. Raiko assured her of her importance to the city and that a new building was already in the works, she was ready to push for a whole campus when Varrick interrupted them. But those were worries for another day, today was all about enjoying her time with Korra.

And she was enjoying her time, seeing Korra bounce around, reveling in the destructive force of the spirit vine cannon, getting excited about a settlement of spirits. It wasn't until they made their way to the spirit portal did Asami's mood shift.

It wasn't the portal that took her attention this time but the remnants of the colossal mech-suit. It taunted her, the legs that had smashed their way through the city just the other week, seeing the small hole that Korra and the rest of the assault team had crawled through, The small hole that her father gave his life to complete. Her heartbeat ran rampant and her mind spun in it's place.

Korra looked over at her girlfriend, a smile across her face, mid-sentence in describing how it felt to bend the massive ray of spirit energy she had leapt in front of, and realized that Asami was not well.

"Hey, Sami, are you okay?"

"Huh, what? Yeah, I'm fine!"

Korra knew better, "Really? Because you don't look fine. You're standing there pale as a spirit, fidgeting with your buttons on your jacket, staring off into nothing. What's wrong?"

"IT'S nothing, it's just stupid."

"Obviously it's not, I'm here for you Asami, what's going on in the big brain of yours?"

"It's just. I looked out at the spirit portal but seeing the remains of that giant mecha. I just kind of got lost a little. You pulled me back though."

Korra drew Asami into a big hug. "Do you remember what you said to me before Jinora's ceremony all those years ago? Because I want you to know that I'm always here for you, no matter what. You can wake me up in the middle of the night to talk about anything that's bugging you, I don't care." Korra tightened the hug, "I mean it, I'm not going anywhere Asami."

Asami hadn't felt this loved in years, she clung to the words that Korra spoke, hoping she meant every single line.

"Let's get going, Pema is probably about to start cooking, we should probably help her out." Korra suggested, hoping that removing Asami from the sight of the platinum behemoth would calm her nerve further.

The ferry ride back to air temple island was one full of tender cuddling, the closeness still not enough for either Korra or Asami. They disentangled themselves as the ferry approached the docks, still wary of the whole world seeing their love.

"Ah Korra, there you are, I've been wanting to talk to you all day."

Of course Tenzin would be the first person they run into.

"About what?" Korra asked, hoping it wouldn't be anything important. "We were just on our way to help Pema with dinner."

"Don't worry; Opal, Bolin, and Jinora are helping her just fine. I just wanted to let you know that Raiko is holding a meeting tomorrow to talk about the state of the Earth Kingdom; thought I'd let you know."

"Thanks for letting me know, wake me up before you leave?"

"Not a problem, I'll let the two of you know when dinner is ready."

"Thanks," Korra responded, happy to have some more time alone with her girlfriend.

They made their way to the gazebo, hand in hand, stopping at the railing to overlook the vast sea in front of them. They shared each other's warmth

It felt like no time had passed before Tenzin came to say that dinner was ready.

Korra and Asami sat side by side, nearly on top of each other; Opal, Bolin, and Pema giving them a sly grin.

Nothing raised suspicions until Asami asked Korra to warm her tea up, which Korra did with a flourish resulting in a playful elbowing from Asami. It wasn't until Korra's response of a kiss on Asami's cheek that Tenzin cleared his throat.

"Is there going to be an official announcement, or should we all just accept what we just saw?" Tenzin asked in a monotone voice catching Korra off guard.

"Umm, I'm the Avatar and you gotta deal with it?"

"I suppose we do," Tenzin responded plainly. "But for what it's worth, I'm glad to see you this happy. You deserve it after everything you've been through."

"So that's what happened between you two in the spirit world." Jinora stated plainly.

"Well that and a lot of other things. We had a lot of adventures around the spirit world, one of them I think you all will find interesting." Korra remarked. "We found an ancient clearing where the spirits of the old Avatars retire. We talked to Aang."

"You what? How is that even possible?" Bolin asked excitedly.

"I suppose it would be possible," Tenzin remarked. "Does that mean you reconnected with your past lives?"

"Would that even be possible?" Jinora questioned. "I thought the Raava's spirit you reconnected to was a reborn spirit?"

"I can't reconnect with my previous lives because of the reborn Raava and honestly, I wouldn't want to reconnect with my past lives. I've changed the world so much, even since Aang, I don't think their opinions of the world really count for much anymore."

"That's a very wise approach Korra, I'm so proud of your maturity." Tenzin commented. "But is it possible to revisit that clearing?"

"Absolutely, It would be an honor to take you and your family to see your father once again."

"It would mean the world to have my children meet their grandfather."


End file.
